Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme, 1993)
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The movie Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme, 1993) was daring in terms of its presentation of a legal issue, but inherent in the film is a certain understanding of AIDS as a medical issue as well. The relationship between the main character and his dying roommate metamorphoses into the story of the main character's own impending death. The social attitudes in the film were colored by misconceptions about the origin and nature of AIDS, and while such altitudes have changed somewhat, it remains possible that a firm could take a similar tack today and try to oust anyone perceived as having HIV or AIDS. The medical issue has changed since the film was made, however, and AIDS is not necessarily the death sentence it was considered at that time, nor need it be so debilitating that the individual would in time not be able to work at all as was considered the case then. AIDS is clearly a medical issue, but the history of the disorder and of the response to it shows that AIDS is also a political issue. The political and medical aspects of AIDS clash. Our perception of AIDS has changed greatly as more information about the disorder has been developed, and this has altered our medical response to the disease so that more emphasis is placed on prevention by the use of condoms and other means identified as "safe sex." The political response has been slower to change because AIDS is bound up with ideas about sex and sexuality and is still identified largely as a "gay" disease, bringing
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es make it more likely that the disease will be transmitted. Underlying the social response to this fact has been the long-standing reality of homophobia in American society, and while nearly every other form of discrimination has been outlawed, discrimination against gays remains an accepted and prevalent response of business, government, and individuals today.
The main character takes a fatalistic point of view in the film, certain that he is facing a death sentence, which may have been the case at that time. More recently, there has been considerable research to show new ways of treatment not to cure the disease but to stave off its effects, perhaps indefinitely. For instance, recent research in France produced a series of encouraging reports showing that the immune systems of HIV infected patients may recover, at least partially, if powerful combinations of drugs are used to reduce the onslaught of viruses on the immune system. AIDS researchers are still debating how much recovery actually takes place, but in general they agree that the French team's findings have helped open the door to the possibility of real improvement. Patients in the French study in advanced stages of HIV infection were treated with combination
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Joe Miller, Andrew Beckett, Cohen February, HIV AIDS, Jonathan Demme, Patients French, Opportunistic Infections, Chicago Researchers, Cohen March, immune system, Magazine June, 20 1998, andrew beckett, medical issue, opportunistic infections, aids medical, aids medical issue, february 20 1998, combination therapy, main character, february 20, law firm, treatment protease inhibitors, 1998 cohen jon, march 20 1998,
Approximate Word count = 1674
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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